Dr. Devon Payne-Sturges
VerifiedUniversity of Maryland, College Park · Environmental Health and Safety
Active 2000–2026
About
Dr. Devon Payne-Sturges is a professor with the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, and continues her affiliation with the Department of Global, Environmental, and Occupational Health at the University of Maryland School of Public Health as a visiting professor. Her research addresses environmental health inequities through interdisciplinary frameworks and collaborative approaches to inform and evaluate social and environmental policies. She has a background that includes serving as Assistant Commissioner for Environmental Health with the Baltimore City Health Department and as the Assistant Center Director for Human Health at the U.S. EPA’s National Center for Environmental Research. Her work focuses on racial and economic disparities in exposures to environmental contaminants and associated health risks, especially among vulnerable, low-income, and minority populations. Dr. Payne-Sturges employs systems science methods to analyze complex issues such as cumulative environmental health risks and disparities, applying these approaches to address structural inequalities affecting migrant and seasonal farmworkers through her RESPIRAR Project. She is also co-leading the Urban Equity Collaborative, which aims to leverage university research to address issues of dispossession, displacement, affordable housing, immigrant rights, and small business displacement. Her career is characterized by a commitment to understanding and addressing the cumulative effects of multiple risk factors on health to inform policies that protect public health.
Research topics
- Environmental health
- Medicine
- Political science
- Environmental planning
- Environmental science
Selected publications
HIRING H-2A WORKERS: Employer Application Process December 2025
2026-01-01
articleOpen accessSenior author2026-01-01
articleOpen accessWages and Benefits: Clarifying Regulations Affecting Workers On and Off the Fields DECEMBER 2025
2026-01-01
articleOpen accessSenior authorPubMed · 2026-05-01
articleOpen accessSenior author2026;116(5):657-664. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2025.308362).
2026-01-01
articleOpen accessSenior authorThe recursive violence of reform: A century of failed interventions in migrant farmworker housing
Social Science & Medicine · 2025-08-13
articleOpen accessSenior authorFrontiers in Public Health · 2025-12-19
articleOpen access1st authorCorrespondingBackground: The global reckoning on race and racism in 2020 ushered in new or enhancement of existing governmental anti-discrimination and anti-racism initiatives at EU and German Federal levels. However, the role of racism, particularly structural racism, in health appears to be missing from community health and medical training and research, and from larger policy debates on environmental justice and health equity in Germany. Design/Methods: Participants were purposively recruited across 10 German cities selected to represent regional variability in racial diversity and engaged in semi-structured in-depth interviews that were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Using thematic analysis, these qualitative interviews with 14 anti-racism researchers, community-based advocates and educators knowledgeable about environmental justice, racism, public health who identified as Black or Afro-German and/or work on behalf of racialized communities in Germany were analyzed to explore the challenges faced by minoritized communities in Germany in relation to environmental justice and health inequities, as well as strategies for addressing these issues. Results: Participants enumerated a number environmental conditions likely disproportionately impacting racialized minority groups in Germany. The extent of these issues is not known due to lack of data and empirical studies. Participants pointed to the myriad ways racism is structured in Germany, tracing how racialized and racially hierarchical values and beliefs become actualized through racially discriminatory policies and practices embedded in social institutions such as the government, the economy, the education system and the healthcare system which lead to racialized outcomes in health and environmental conditions. Conclusions: Interview participants identified pathways toward more effective research and policy initiatives on racism, environmental justice, community health and environmental heath equity in Germany including: collecting better data that is informed by structural theories of race/racialization and power; addressing history and national narratives; supporting more community-based participatory action research; engaging with existing civil society and non-governmental organizations that serve and advocate on behalf of minoritized communities; and building upon past and present progressive social movements.
Frontiers in Public Health · 2025-08-25 · 1 citations
articleOpen accessThe frequency and severity of heat waves are expected to worsen with climate change. Exposure to extreme heat, or prolonged unusually high temperatures, are associated with increased morbidity and mortality. The fetus, infant, and young child are more sensitive to higher temperatures than older children and most adults given that they are rapidly developing. During pregnancy, exposure to extreme heat may result in dehydration, inflammation, and reduced blood flow in the placenta potentially triggering preterm birth and increased rates of stillbirth and low birth weight infants. Young children experience a range of immediate health effects from heat, including disruptions in their sleep and learning, and exacerbations of asthma. Long-term impacts include lower cognitive function, reduced ability to concentrate, and adverse outcomes in mental and behavioral health. It is possible to protect children by taking steps to reduce the potential long-term harm of increasing exposure to extreme heat, such as implementing early warning systems, establishing community cooling centers, and expanding support programs to provide cooling systems to homes. Further, adapting existing infrastructure to withstand increased heat through increasing shade as well as the use of cool pavements or cool/green roofs in early care centers and other places children spend time may be efficient ways of mitigating the developmental effects of extreme heat. Finally, preventing future temperature increases by addressing the root causes behind our rapidly heating planet by decreasing use of fossil fuel and investing in renewable energy sources are ultimately needed to ensure healthy child development.
Environmental Science & Technology · 2025-02-27 · 4 citations
articleOpen accessEnvironmental exposures, including widespread industrial pollution, impact human health and are amplified in more highly exposed communities. Policy and regulatory frameworks for making decisions and recommendations on interventions to mitigate or prevent exposures tend to narrowly focus on exposure and some health-related data related to risks. Typically, such frameworks do not consider other factors, including essentiality, health equity, and distribution of benefits and costs. Further, decisions and recommendations lack transparency regarding how they were developed. We developed the Navigation Guide Evidence-to-Decision Framework for Environmental Health (E2DFEH) to provide a structured and transparent framework incorporating a range of scientific information and factors for decision-making. We reviewed current evidence-to-decision frameworks and engaged in an iterative consensus-based process involving 30 experts from 25 organizations in the academic, government, and nonprofit sectors. The E2DFEH framework includes three Foundations that are structural factors considered as part of recommendation development: 1) Essentiality, 2) Human Rights, and 3) Quality of the Evidence. It also includes three core Criteria that guide the development of a specific recommendation, informed by an evaluation of relevant evidence: 1) Environmental Justice, 2) Maximizing Benefits and Reducing Harm, and 3) Sociocultural Acceptability and Feasibility. The framework's goal is to make the decision process transparent and comprehensive through explicit consideration of core factors important for decisions, leading to more equitable and health-protective interventions.
SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01
articleOpen access
Recent grants
Frequent coauthors
- 19 shared
Deborah A. Cory‐Slechta
University of Rochester Medical Center
- 16 shared
Jerry Phelps
- 16 shared
Liam R. O’Fallon
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
- 16 shared
Harold Zenick
National Institutes of Health
- 16 shared
Sherry Baron
Queens College, CUNY
- 16 shared
Raymond Sinclair
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
- 16 shared
Gwen W. Collman
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
- 15 shared
Gilbert C. Gee
University of California, Los Angeles
Education
- 2002
DrPH, Environmental Health Sciences
Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health
Awards & honors
- U.S.EPA Bronze Medal for Commendable Service for Outstanding…
- U.S. EPA Scientific and Technological Achievement Award, Lev…
- Johns Hopkins Woodrow Wilson Award for Government Service, 2…
- U.S.EPA Bronze Medal for Commendable Service for Outstanding…
- Advancing Faculty Diversity, University of Maryland, 2014 -…
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